The Riders
by Espeon Master Espo
Summary: Astrid was never a patient girl. But when her temper finally boils over and she follows Hiccup to see why he became so good, she changes her entire future in a way she never thought possible. Being slowly Beta Read.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Astrid was many things, and know in many ways on Isle of Berk. A warrior, a Fearless Hofferson, angry crazy lady, dangerous, and beautiful, among many other things. She also considered herself to be one of the best fighters, trackers, and stealthiest Vikings in training. But one thing she was not was patient or gracious when someone stole her thunder when it came to fighting dragons.

So for the first time that she could really remember she was extremely jealous of another Viking, and not just any Viking, but the chiefs own son. To most this would seem rather common place till they learned that the chief's son, Hiccup, was a small kid with hardly anything special about him. He was a little smaller than her, and much weaker and exceptionally more clumsy and likely to cause disaster.

So if anything he should be jealous of her, but sadly that was no longer true. Over the course of a two week period while they had both partaken in dragon training Hiccup had gone from the Chief's greatest disappointment, to the talk of the town and leading contender for taking the number one spot in dragon training.

That alone would not have made Astrid this made or jealous though. It was the simple fact that everything he did, which seemed to be nothing at all most of the time could drop a dragon, either living it in some sort of trance, or straight out asleep. And now everyone, well nearly everyone as she was not in that group, among the villagers not currently out looking for the Dragon's nest were trying to get advice and admiring him like he was some big hero.

But today that was all going to change, Astrid had promised herself that much. The day before she had seen him out in the woods with some weird sort of bundle. Today after their training she was going to tail him to where ever it was he was getting this training, after all no one just got as good as Hiccup had become, especially him. She was going to force his secret dragon skills out of him one way or another.

It was lucky that when he had left she had been able to hang back just enough, that he did not notice as she started tailing him. First to his house, where he grabbed some sort of weird leather harness in place of his normal fur jacket. He also was carrying a small bundle with him, he quickly cast his eyes about before heading off into the woods behind his house and away from the village.

Astrid smirked carefully moving along, her axe that she normally kept with her was at her house, in place was a sword and smaller set of daggers. These would be lighter and much quieter and as such would make it much harder for Hiccup to notice or hear her. And it seemed to be working, as even though he would look about every once and a while.

Finally they reached the point where Astrid had seen Hiccup the other day. But this time without him spotting her he walked normally continuing down till he reached a cut in some rocks. Hiccup then vanished to the left side of the rocks, Astrid rapidly moved forward determined to not lose him. But her need to keep Hiccup in sight, caused her to near fall off the rather sudden cliff lick edge that the rocks hid.

But catching herself she was able to back up just in time, keeping her from falling down into the large inland cove. Backing up she quickly hid in the rocky passage better, but soon realized she could not see Hiccup at all down in the cove. Astrid moved back as this cove was nicely in closed meaning she could watch from the edge in another location.

She soon found the perfect spot by some bushes, right at the edge of the cove. What she saw when she looked down into the cove caused her to cut herself with one of her daggers just to make sure she was well in truly awake. Hiccup was down in the cove with a dragon, and not just any dragon, it had to be a Night Fury. But where it really got weird was the fact not only was neither of them fighting, but Hiccup was feeding the beast and talking with it like they were best friends.

Astrid could only stare as Hiccup gave the dragon a back rub after removing a saddle from its back, as he went on about some plan. But Astrid could not quite make out what he was saying, and moved a little closer, but this caused her to move onto a shelf of unsupported dirt.

Without any solid rocks or roots holding her up the shelf gave out without warning, and Astrid suddenly found herself tumbling end over end into the deep cove. She land hard on the ground, her yell of shook and pain very easily heard by Hiccup and the dragon. Astrid tried to get up but as she pulled her left leg she found that she had pulled one of her muscles making it nearly impossible to move fast.

As such Astrid settled for rolling over and into a sitting position as Hiccup walked over, looking both surprised and annoyed. The dragon behind him kept looking between Hiccup and Astrid hissing and growling. As Hiccup stopped a few feet from her Astrid sighed, this was not what she had planned but she might as well make the best of it, she could tell Gobber all about what was going on here later.

"So I guess this is the part where I explain why I am out here," Astrid said.

"Yes, though I can kind of guess why," Hiccup said, with a small shrug.

"Oh then tell me why I am out here," Astrid asked, not really able to hide her annoyance.

"Well seeing as what I saw yesterday I would say working out your anger at my beating you in dragon training. But since you are here currently I would also add tracking me down to see why I am doing so good in dragon training, which you then put your foot on the wrong spot while hiding and fell," Hiccup said, easily figuring out Astrid's reasons.

"Lucky guess," Astrid said.

"No not really, simple logic. But that also leaves me with a small problem, what to do with you. I cannot let you tell the town about me and Toothless yet," Hiccup said closing his eyes and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"You and who?" Astrid asked.

"That is right I guess you would not know him," Hiccup said before gesturing over to the dragon, "Astrid meet Toothless the Night Fury I shot down two weeks ago. Toothless meet Astrid, and no you may not hurt her."

Astrid was about to make a comment about dragon's would never listen to a human, but then Toothless gave Hiccup a glare and walked off looking like he was sulking of all things. Astrid felt her mouth fall open in shock as she watch this. Hiccup could not help but chuckle seeing this expression.

"So do you need some help or would you rather remain stilling on the dirt," Hiccup asked.

"I am just find her thanks," Astrid said as she moved her leg and foot lightly to see how bad the damage was and winced noticeably.

"Are you sure you don't look…" Hiccup began but Astrid quickly cut him off with, "I am just fine!"

"Okay your fine," Hiccup said backing up a step or two.

"So what now," Astrid asked, as she took a few breaths to calm herself down.

"Well right now we have to see how badly you are hurt, then we can go from there." Hiccup said.

"I am okay, just pulled something in my leg when I feel, nothing is broke," Astrid said.

"Are you sure," Hiccup asked.

"Yes I am sure," Astrid said, carefully keeping herself calm.

"Okay so at least that is good, now we need to deal with what you have seen and what you're allowed to say if anything back at the village," Hiccup said.

"What are you talking about I will not reveal anything," Astrid said lying with ease.

"Yes, that is true, even if you are lying to me," Hiccup said, he did not believe for one second she would not rat him out.

"What you don't believe me," Astrid asked.

"Well then, you tell me why you were trying to kill trees yesterday?" Hiccup asked, but Astrid did not reply and so Hiccup added, "You and I both know that you will rat me out to Gobber or even my dad first chance you get as of right now. So we are going to do something about that."

"Like what, you know as well I do that even slightly hurt I can more than take you in a fight," Astrid pointed out quickly enough.

"True, but can you take on a dragon," Hiccup asked as he began walking towards Toothless.

"Wait you're not going to feed me to your pet are you," Astrid said reaching for her sword.

"No, not at all. Everything we know about dragons is wrong, and having him kill you would truly not help me at all, or any of my plans. But he can pin you, so that I can remove all your weapons safely, unless you want to give them up before I ask his add," Hiccup said, with a small smirk.

"And you're not worried about me stabbing him," Astrid asked drawing out her sword.

"No, and you might want to put that down," Hiccup said.

"Yeah like I am going to do that," Astrid said slowly standing up, though her stance was shaky.

Hiccup rolled his eyes as suddenly Astrid found the sword in her hand blow clean out of it, as Toothless had launched a rather small fireball at it. The blade landed a good thirty to forty feet from her, hardly a long distance but with her legs this shaky and sore it might as well be a mile currently.

"As I said you might want to put it down, Toothless is not to fawn of weapons being pointed at me let alone himself," Hiccup said moving in front of Toothless to stop him from attacking Astrid.

Astrid sank to the ground slowly, watching in surprise as Hiccup calmed the dragon down with some words, and a light scratching around his chin. She realized this was how he had done in some of the dragons at the arena as they calmed down in much the same manor. By the time Toothless was completely calm Astrid had time to think of a possible get away plan, assuming this all went like she hoped.

"So, Astrid, what are we going to do with you?" Hiccup asked again.

"I don't know, tie me up and make sure I don't speak," Astrid said with a hint of sarcasm.

"While possible I rather not." Hiccup said as he slowly began to pace about.

"Figured as much," Astrid said.

The group remained quiet for a few minutes before Astrid finally decided to ask something, "Hiccup you changed a lot. Your no longer… well weak to be honest, now there is a confidence and strength about you, was it the dragon that did that?"

"To answer that… I have always been weak, but I have always been determined to prove everyone wrong. Problem is most times I tried doing that it ended… well you know," Hiccup said.

"In complete disaster," Astrid supplied.

"That is one way to put it. Thing is though I was also strong and confident in my own way, I cannot out muscle anyone, but I can build stuff that lets me beat them in all ways. My spy glass lets me see better and longer than anyone else, the weapon that brought down Toothless could throw a bola easily three times the distance and speed of a normal Viking own throw. Problem is when no one else realizes this they tend of look on these as failures, or useless which then reflects back onto myself," Hiccup explained.

"So your experiment to train a dragon is one of these plans," Astrid asked.

"Well that is more of an accident, as most of the trick I use down in the ring I learned by working with Toothless here. I have been working on helping him fly again by becoming a Dragon Rider, the first Dragon Rider." Hiccup said sound a little proud of the small title.

"Like the chin scratching thing," Astrid pointed out.

"Yes, that is a big one I can use," Hiccup nodded, before adding quickly, "but it is not the only one I use."

"So what will your father think of this," Astrid asked.

At this point Hiccup flinched noticeably at this question, and looked away, "I rather not think about that till after I am done with my last and most recent idea."

"So mad, disappointed, and angry," Astrid supplied again.

"Add in hurt, betrayed, and confused and you got it I am sure," Hiccup said, before sighing and looked back at Astrid, and asked, "Do you know much about my mother?"

"No," Astrid said a little taken by surprise by the question.

"My dad does not talk about her much, but I got much of the full story, and what she was like from Gobber, when I was working at his forge. She was the same as me in many way, not a Hiccup mind you, but she never believed dragons were evil. And the only time she attacked was when I was in danger," Hiccup said.

"So… where are you going with this?" Astrid asked.

"About fifteen years ago during a dragon raid, a dragon had broken into my house. My dad had seen the dragon in the house and ran for it. When he got there he noticed my mom staring at the dragon with an ax in her hand. My dad attacked the dragon quickly seeing as it head was next to my bed, he scared it off and grabbed me escaping from the house, but he could not get my mother as the dragon flew off with her," Hiccup said, sounding sad.

"So he saved you and the dragon killed her," Astrid said, "Still sounds like evil beasts to me."

"I find that hard to believe. Gobber said that my mom was staring at the dragon, so it had plenty of time to hurt of even kill me, yet it did not do that. Plus even after my dad rushed in, it only fled grabbing my mom, if anything I believe it was in some way protecting her thinking my dad a threat," Hiccup said.

"Oh please we both know the dragons always go for the kill in the end," Astrid countered.

"Yes that is why your sword was knocked from your hand, rather than you being killed," Hiccup countered.

Astrid blinked as she realized that was true. As she began to think about it more she realized more and more deaths were pretty far between and were usually not fully the dragons fault. But there was still the fact that the dragons would raid them none stop.

"Well what about all these attacks on us," Astrid tried.

"Raids, they are normally after food and supplies. As fire is their main weapon and we use wood for many of our buildings it makes sense the amount of destruction. Besides are we the of the Vikings evil," Hiccup asked.

"No we are not evil," Astrid said rather sure of her answer.

"But in the past we have raided other tribes for food, so since we follow the same path of the dragons and raid others for food we must be evil," Hiccup said, finally finding a way to get through to Astrid with some logic.

"I… okay fine, they are not evil. But that still is a lot of food they steal, where is it all going," Astrid asked.

"Currently I don't know, but I am pretty sure they are not eating all of it themselves, even babies would not eat much more than a Terrible Terror," Hiccup said, sighing.

Astrid nodded, but was not sure what to say in return. Not only had Hiccup countered the normal arguments that any Viking would have with good logic. When she compared a dragon raid to a Viking raid she realized there was truly not much difference. Killing happened only because the defenders did not want to lose food and would fight back. People who stayed out of the battle never got hurt, much like Hiccup who only got into trouble with the dragon when he tried to actually fight.

"So… what is the plan," Astrid finally asked, her tone was no longer strong but rather a softer one of defeat.

"First I plan on releasing the dragons in the Killing Arena, then I am going to find out what is going on at Dragon Island. Then last of all I am going to go looking for my mother," Hiccup said, his voice steady and firm.

"That is a rather big job for one person," Astrid said.

"True, but if you are willing, that can be two people and six dragons," Hiccup said offering her his hand.

"You trust me," Astrid said rather surprised.

"Now I do, once you realized that there was not too much difference between them and us. And you were willing to expect that they could be good, I knew I could trust you to help me, or at least not rat me out," Hiccup said with a small chuckle.

"Thanks I guess," Astrid said taking his hand and was able to stand up again.

Hiccup smiled and helped her collect her sword then helped her over to Toothless. Where he introduced her to the rather small dragon, or at least small by dragon standards as he was still as bigger than a horse with ease. As Astrid got to know the Dragon better Hiccup went about getting some stuff together as to help Astrid out of the cove.

By the time the sun was settling Astrid and Toothless seemed to trust each other rather well. Not nearly on the same level of Hiccup and Toothless own bond, but that would come one day they were sure. Hiccup then got Astrid onto the saddle and they set off back towards town, but as they got closer to it, Hiccup spotted something that sent a chill up his spin, his dad fleet was back from trying to find the dragon's nest.

"Oh no," Hiccup said, before direction Toothless to land on one of the strong stone pillars out in the ocean.

"What is the matter," Astrid asked.

"My dad's fleet has returned," Hiccup said point out towards the docks.

"How can you tell, I cannot see anything in this darkness," Astrid said.

"There are currently two ships that belong to the Berk fleet anchored at port, both of which show signs of a heavy fire damage. The only reason they would be back this soon is a loss of supplies or a powerful storm forcing them back," Hiccup said.

"I am still not sure what you are seeing, I can barely make out the docks and ships at this distance. Let alone if they are damaged or not," Astrid said.

"Well as I said before I am more skilled at something's then you are," Hiccup said.

Hiccup then directing Toothless forward till they were within a Stoick throw of the port. By this point Astrid could easily see Hiccup was indeed correct, as with the addition of torches other people from the town where helping everyone off the badly damaged ships. Hiccup got out his spy glass and began looking carefully about for his father.

It took only a few minutes, before he found him talking with Gobber not far up the ramps, looking less than happy. His face then turned too surprised, before finally stopping on thoughtful. Hiccup then watched them head up into the village itself, and lost them amongst the houses.

"Well great my whole plan just went up in smoke unless I act on it now," Hiccup said

"Why is your father being back so bad," Astrid asked, "Well I know why it is bad, by why is it really bad?"

"Let's just say I think I have a better time convincing him out at sea that dragon are not as bad then back in town, where he probably has heard about my 'skills' at defeating dragons," Hiccup said, with a slight groan of annoyance.

"Yes, he can be…"

"As unmoving as Thor's hammer?" Hiccup supplied.

"I was going to say stubborn but that works to," Astrid said, "So what is the plan?"

"I am breaking the dragons out tonight, while you head home," Hiccup said.

"But wait what about me joining you," Astrid asked.

"I am about to attack the Dragon Killing Arena with loads of Vikings that are probably not in the best of moods going to be pulled into defending it. If anything goes wrong, I might just be banished, you would not be so lucky," Hiccup said, "Besides, if something goes wrong you will be the only one that can stop all this fighting and find my mother."

"I… Okay find I will stay behind, but just make sure it doesn't go wrong," Astrid said.

"I promise, after all I am Hiccup the Dragon Rider," Hiccup said grinning.

"Right, let's go dragon boy," Astrid said with a small laugh.

Hiccup smiled and had Toothless carefully fly around the outside edge of the village before landing. They rode Toothless carefully into the town avoiding the light before dropping off Astrid at her house. Astrid by this point could walk almost normally again and quickly vanished into her home. At which point Hiccup nudge Toothless and they were off and back out of the town quickly.

Hiccup then moved about and began circling around the island. With some luck Toothless and Hiccup were able to find a good place to hide, while Hiccup dismounted and went down to the arena to free the dragons. Now while it was true that he could just have Toothless blast the cage from a distance, it would lead to more problems as the force of the blast when it hit the doors keeping the dragons in their own cells, could hurt the dragons he was trying to free.

But there were a few things Hiccup had not counted on. First was the route he had picked, while it looked okay from the air was not as straight forward as he had thought. Second it seemed that some of the Vikings were camping out next to the arena overnight. As such by the time he got down there he was badly winded from being forced to take an even longer route than he had planned. But as he got to the cages edge he saw something that made him stop in shock.

Astrid at the other side of the cage by the control and had just pulled the levelers to release the dragons. Hiccups heard the gears begin to turn down below that began to open the locks to the different cages. She then ran towards the main gate and cranked it open. Hiccup ran for her to get her out of the way as without him around the dragons would just flee as fast as possible.

The result was Astrid got hit hard by the Gronckle's tail and the Nadder's wings as they passed. By this point the other Vikings had woken up, and Hiccup realized he needed to retreat as there was no saving Astrid at this point, and save his plan as well. Quickly he began climbing the rock, and was soon at a safe distance as many other Vikings came running.

Pulling out his spy glass he soon found Astrid, appeared to have a small bump on her head, but otherwise seemed to be just fine. Problem was from this distance he could not hear what was going on. But throw his spy glass he saw he dad show up then Astrid cuffed and led away. By the time everything was quiet down below Hiccup had made up his mind on his next course of action, save Astrid then flee Berk.

Astrid awoke the next morning, not to her normal room, but a cell in the town jail. It took her only a little bit to remember why she was hear and her rather stupid idea. She had convinced herself, though she did not remember how that Hiccup would be unable to free the dragons alone. And as such made her way quickly to the arena where she found no sign of Hiccup at all.

Astrid at this point made an even dumber move and had released the dragons, thinking they would react much like Toothless had. Problem was she remembered a moment too late, was that the dragons only listened to Hiccup and as such quickly moved to flee the Arena. They ending up knocking out her in their rush to escape for a few moment. She had awoken to Mildew yelling at her, and lot of the other Vikings in the tribe around her all looking angry. Once Hiccup father had shown up, and the cuffs were placed on her hands she realized just how much trouble she was really in.

"Here is your meal Astrid," a voice said, which Astrid recognized as Gobber's

"Thanks," Astrid said getting up and grabbing the cup and bowl of soup.

Gobber waited by the door as she ate before finally asking, "Why did you do it lass?"

"Do what?" Astrid asked.

"Free the dragons?" Gobber replied.

"I had my eyes open to the truth, they are not some evil beasts, and needed to be freed," Astrid said.

"A rather unpopular opinion, only a few have ever shared," Gobber said, "You know what is now coming right?"

"A trail then punishment, probably banishment," Astrid said, keeping her tone level, she was not about to lose it now.

"Yep, you really stirred up a hornets nest, banishment is the best you can hope for," Gobber said.

"So when is the trial?" Astrid asked, after finishing her food.

"In about any hour, so if you have any ideas about defending yourself I would start thinking of them now," Gobber said before leaving.

Astrid nodded and sat back down on the bench that doubled as a bed. As she waited for her turn to be taken to the great hall where her trial would be, she tried to come up with some sort of good defense. But she was not Hiccup and could not use logic on the level he did, so just saying they were good and pointing out exams would not have a good enough impact on why she had done so. As she thought about this, she never notice Hiccup enter into the area, till he spoke causing her to jump in surprise.

"Hello Astrid," Hiccup said, "how you feeling after last night."

"An idiot and a fool," Astrid said, "where were you last night?"

"Making my way around form a different location, I had only just got to the arena when you pulled the levelers."

"That would explain why I never saw you," Astrid said, as Hiccup nodded, before she asked, "Do you have a plan?"

"Well… yes," Hiccup admitted after a few moments.

"Am I going to like this?" Astrid asked.

"Well considering the amount of trouble I went through setting this up last night… probably not, but you will be free," Hiccup said.

"So… what is the plan?" Astrid asked.

"Cannot tell you that, otherwise you might rune this plan as well," Hiccup said, "So just trust me I will help you escape."

"I, fine I will trust you," Astrid said.

"Good, just try to not do anything rash between now and the trail," Hiccup said, before glancing at something outside the door, "I got to go now."

Astrid nodded as Hiccup vanished from view. She sighed after he left, she could not blame him for not trusting her with his plan this time, and she had acted stupidly rash. She noticed Snotlout show up and try and comfort her and make her fall for him in spite of all she had done. But really all he was doing was building himself up saying he could have taken on all five dragons without them escaping, like she had tried to do, but only better.

Astrid was saved from this rather annoying and slightly sickening display of Snotlout's so called Viking skills, by Stoick himself along with the others to escort her up to the Great Hall. Astrid was cuffed and soon they were headed up towards the Great Hall. As they passed out of the main part of the village and reached the great stairs that led up to the Hall, everyone noticed a large shadow pass over them.

Stoick was the first to call out Dragon Attack. As a Deadly Nadder swooped down and attacked the group. Astrid dove for cover behind a boulder, hoping to Thor that this was not Hiccups plan. Sadly for Astrid this was Hiccup's plan as two other dragons swooped down and began causing the group to disperse more. And before Astrid could even think about running for better cover yet fourth dragon dove in out of nowhere and grabbed her up.

Astrid was carried away from the village till they were a safe distance away, before it put her down and then landed itself. It was only at this point she was able to realize it was Toothless, and Hiccup was grinning at her from its back. He dismounted and pulled a short sword from his side and place it hilt first into the dirt. Astrid taking the hint rammed her cuffs down onto the point of the sword breaking them in two.

"So how is my rescue?" Hiccup asked as he saw Vikings running towards them, one of which happened to be his dad.

"Once we are safe then I will tell you," Astrid said as she and Hiccup got onto Toothless's back and flew over the village, and landing on Hiccups own home.

"Why are we not leaving yet," Astrid asked.

"I want one chance to talk with my dad before we leave," Hiccup said seeing the group heading towards them rapidly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea," Astrid asked.

"No, but then again, tell me a good one I had since trying to train a dragon," Hiccup pointed out.

"Okay I guess you have a point," Astrid admitted.

"Hiccup what is going on here," Stoick asked, as he slowed to a halt not far from the house.

"I am riding a dragon, and saving Astrid from a trail," Hiccup said simply.

"I can tell that much," Stoick said.

"As for why I am doing this; I found proof that my mom was right. Dragons are not evil, and can be trained. Now you know that I plan on leaving and ending this war between our tribe and the dragons once and for all." Hiccup said rather firmly.

"Now you are just talking crazy. Dragons are evil look how many they have killed in their attacks against us," one of the Viking said.

"Yet I am riding one and it is not attacking or killing anything. Besides, if they were truly evil why have we not been destroyed? We may be tough beyond measure, but we are hardy strong enough to stand up to a group of dragons actually bent on killing us," Hiccup said.

"Then what are they after if they are not bent on killing us," Stoick asked.

"Food, each raid has always left us with a house or two destroyed, while months' worth of supplies of food vanish after each battle. They are looking for food and taking it much like our tribe used to take food and clothing from other tribes when we used to conduct raids ourselves," Hiccup explained.

"What, you think we are no different than those beasts?" Gobber asked.

"Once upon a time yes we were the same, now we are a greatly respected tribe. The same can be true of the dragons," Hiccup said.

"Now Hiccup you listen to me…" Stoick began.

"No now is the time for you to listen father. You and Gobber always said I not a Viking and this is true. I am a dragon rider, the first dragon rider, and I shall stop this war, wither you believe it is possible or not," Hiccup yelled down, causing his Stoick to take a step back in surprise.

There was some mutter about the group, as they listened to Hiccup speak. Astrid smiled to herself, seeing that Hiccup in some ways could take control of the tribe and lead them well where he needed them to be. Stoick looked at Hiccup closely before finally putting away the sword he had been holding.

"Son, what is it you want in return for stopping this war," Stoick asked with a grim tone.

"I want nothing other than the war itself to be ended. Then I shall return here, wither I stay or not will be up to the tribe and you father. But I will continue working with the dragons, they have become my closest friend and family, in a way no one else has," Hiccup said, watching as a look of hurt and pained flashed across his father's face.

Hiccup sighed to himself before touching Toothless lightly on the head. Toothless spread his wings before with a great pump was airborne. Hiccup kept himself from looking back till the village was barely visible in the distance. He knew if he looked back now he would not be able to follow through with this. He may not always like his father, but the look of betrayal that had been on his face was almost too much.

As Hiccup passed the last of the stone pillars that surrounded the island of Berk, he saw the other dragons form up on either side of him. Toothless glanced up and gave Hiccup a said look of understanding. Astrid also could feel the hurt but was not sure what to say, words and confront was not really her best skill.

Back on Berk watched as the group of dragons faded from sight Stoick stood. For the first time in his life he was truly unsure about what he should do now. He went into his house and pulled from a high shelf out a helmet, it was to be Hiccups upon his return. Sighing he placed it carefully on his table, before sinking into one of the chairs a lone tear making its way down his face.

"Good luck son."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Hiccup remained quiet for the rest of the trip to Dragon Island, and nothing Astrid said could bring a response out of him. It was kind of creepy to say the least, and was making Astrid increasingly annoyed in spite of the fact he had just saved her life, and had stood up to the entire village. But she carefully held back her temper, at least more than normal. Hiccup had just gone through the hardest thing a Viking could face, that being their own parents.

When Hiccup had Toothless sit down on one of the stone columns not far from Dragon Island, he finally spoke, "So you… ready for this?"

"Ready for what exactly," Astrid asked.

"Taking on the Dragon's Nest," Hiccup said as he sat down and began going over what little information that he had been Able to collect on Dragon Island.

"To be honest, no, how about yourself?" Astrid asked.

It looked for a few moments like he was going to lapse back into silence, but after about two minutes he spoke, "To be honest, I rather be here than facing down my father again."

"That was tough for you wasn't it," Astrid said, kneeling down by where Hiccup was sitting.

"Hard… I don't think that word does it justice. Normally when I do something crazy or bad I just get a look of disappointment, not a look of complete and utter betrayal!" Hiccup said, nearly shooting the last part, before he threw down his notes.

"Hiccup…" Astrid reached out and took his hand in hers.

Hiccup seemed to stop as he looked at her, there were tears forming in his eyes. Astrid not sure really what else to do pulled him into arms and gave him a hug. And for the first time she could ever even remember he was actually broke down and cried. Even as a kid Astrid could never remember seeing Hiccup act this was, it was truly a new side of him, she never thought existed.

She could remember all the fights Hiccup had with his father, each and every failure that Hiccup had or had caused. But not once had he broken down, he only ever got frustrated and mad. Then the next day he would come back and be determined to do even better. But then again all of these fall out never caused Hiccup betray his own father.

In was close to days end before Hiccup finally calmed down. Hiccup stood up and directed the dragons to get some food, while he set about setting up a same camp.

"Hiccup are you okay," Astrid asked.

"Yes, I will be better after I got some sleep," Hiccup said.

"Do you… want to talk about it," Astrid asked.

"No," Hiccup said setting up a small tent.

"Hiccup I…" Astrid began, but was cut off by Hiccup, "Astrid I will be just fine. Tonight we will camp here tomorrow we are taking on Dragon Island."

"Okay… so what is the plan then," Astrid asked.

"Right now it is more of a guess than a plan," Hiccup said as he set about putting up a second tent.

"Am I going to like this," Astrid asked.

"Not likely," Hiccup said, "I have noticed we only use about ten to twelve fish a day to feed a dragon. And if it actively battling or working out each day about double that. This means the amount of food they take from us is way too much even if each dragon had a small family."

"So they bring extra food, why?" Astrid asked.

"One of two possible reasons, either there are a lot more dragon than we thought on the island that cannot get food. Or they are bringing the food for some creature that does not want to go out hunting. And we are not taking a very small dragon either, it could easily be more massive than any dragon we have on record," Hiccup said.

"So how big are we talking." Astrid asked.

"Well take this rock," Hiccup said picking up a small stone, "this is say a Gronckle."

"Sure," Astrid nodded.

"This stone pillar the surface of it could be the size of the dragon we are looking at by comparison to the small rock," Hiccup said.

"That… is impossible, if that was true then the dragon would be at least the size of Island of Berk if not bigger," Astrid said.

"I know, but it would explain a lot. For that matter it could also control them, which would explain why they never just leave, like they have with Berk," Hiccup said thoughtfully.

"What are you talking about they are always on Berk," Astrid said confused.

"They raid Berk yes, but if you actually look about the Island the only dragon you will find living on it is Terrible Terrors. The war has driven them away," Hiccup said.

"I might ask why I signed up for this again," Astrid asked herself.

"You freed the dragons and got caught doing it," Hiccup said, as the dragons outside Toothless landed, each carrying some fish.

Hiccup took a few fish and put them on the two swords he had packed up and began cocking the fish. The rest of the fish was spilt up between the six dragons who ate them swiftly enough. Hiccup began singing softly as he cooked. By the time he was done, the dragons had fallen asleep. Once the fish were cooked Hiccup handed one over.

"So how long have you been working with these dragon," Astrid asked.

"About a week and a half total," Hiccup said.

"And you have them this well trained," Astrid said in slight disbelief.

"I had help from Toothless. With him and myself working together we were able to work with all the dragons in the arena," Hiccup said, before he began eating the fish.

"So what have you trained them to do," Astrid asked between mouthfuls of fish.

"Mostly just basic things; Eat, come, go, fly, land, and fish," Hiccup said, slowly eating.

"That seems more than the basics," Astrid commented after a few moments of thought.

"Well, all those skills are something the dragons do normally. I just had to figure out how to make them do it when I asked," Hiccup said smiling.

"That, actually makes a lot of sense," Astrid said.

"But that is all I could work with them on," Hiccup said, "but this means I cannot really use them in this idea."

"Maybe I could fly one of them," Astrid suggested.

"Wait what?" Hiccup said in surprise.

"Well, while I am not as good as you, if I am on another dragon than that would give us two dragons we could fully control," Astrid said.

"That is not actually a bad idea, expect one problem," Hiccup said.

"What is that?" Astrid asked

"You lack any sort of saddle or way to stay on a dragon," Hiccup pointed out.

"Could I use their horns," Astrid asked.

"Well yes, you could though it could also backfire," Hiccup pointed out.

"How," Astrid asked.

"Say we made a tight turn you could be throw off," Hiccup said.

"I will take the risk," Astrid said with a small smirk.

"Fine," Hiccup said, but smiled, "Well I am off to bed. Get some rest it will be a long day tomorrow I am sure."

Astrid nodded as she tossed what remained of her fish over to the dragons for them to eat later. She then moved into one of the small tents and pulled a one of the blankets that Hiccup had brought over her. It was not the best, but considering her bed was normally wooden boards and a fur blanket it was not too bad. It was only a few minutes before Astrid had fallen asleep.

Hiccup how ever did not fall asleep as fast as he paced about the stone pillar. He knew he was risking a lot in this next move. This was not just risking his life, but now his closest friends and crush. He looked over at Astrid and a small smile came to his face. If this situation had one good point was now he was spending time with Astrid, and better yet she was happy to actually be with them.

He then turned and looked at the dragons. There was so much he still did not know, and now thanks to Toothless so much more he wished to learn. Then there was other species of dragons that he even knew less about. He stopped by his pack and picked out the book of dragons and began slowly going through it.

The next morning Astrid woke with the early sun in her eyes and spotted Hiccup curled up against Toothless, the Book of Dragon open on his chest. Astrid pulled back what turned out to be two blankets one of which must have been Hiccup's. Astrid smiled a little bit carefully rolling up the two blankets before she went over and woke Hiccup up.

"Morning there, having some fun late night studying?" Astrid said with a small smirk.

"Yeah, hoping maybe I find some answers in the Book of Dragons," Hiccup said stretching slowly.

"Anything," Astrid asked.

"Well some interesting possibilities, but none of the dragons recorded in here have anywhere the needed size. So I am guessing family of dragons and big ones," Hiccup said.

"Well let's get going then, are we taking them all with us or just Toothless to see what it is like inside?" Astrid asked, pulling a couple biscuits out of Hiccups pack for their breakfast.

"Just Toothless, we want to get in and observe without having more dragons than need be," Hiccup said.

"Okays," Astrid said with a small smile.

It was only a few moments longer before they were off from the camp site and heading towards the Dragon's Mountain. The mountain was just visible through the fog that seemed to forever surround Dragon Island. Hiccup carefully directed Toothless through the air, before Toothless took control of their flight path.

Flying through the many columns of stone they soon came to a cave entrance. They moved deeper till they reached a huge chamber in which many other dragons were currently resting. Toothless landed on a good size outcrop of rock, while Astrid and Hiccup looked about.

"I don't see anything that would account for the large amount of food," Astrid said quietly as to not disturb any of the nearby dragons.

"Agreed, while there is enough dragons to account for the amount of food they take from us. It would be a great deal easier for them to get food from hunting rather than risking attacks on us," Hiccup said.

Astrid nodded looking about, but soon they both hear a rumbling coming from the center of the large cavern. All the dragon's including Toothless moved back into their nests more, as if trying to hide from the sound. Out of the orange mist came a large dragon, easily larger than any dragon Hiccup had seen before, probably any Viking had seen for that matter.

"What is that," Astrid said, unable to hold back her shock.

"I don't know but I think it is time to leave, let's go bud, now!" Hiccup yelled as the large dragon lunged towards them.

What calm had been in the dragon nests was gone as all dragons began to flee the area. It was total chaos as Hiccup and Toothless dodged and wove through the large mass of dragons. But the large dragon did not care about what got in its way as it gave chase. Smaller dragons were tossed aside without a care, even if they were injured.

"Oh my, we are so dead," Astrid yelled as they dodged around a stone column.

"I am not about to argue with that," Hiccup said,

"I will do anything for you if you get us out of here safely," Astrid said as they dodge around a large falling rock as the tunnel started to cave in.

"I will hold you to that if we live," Hiccup said as they shot out of the cave.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief as they flew clear of the stones that where flying out as the dragon that was chasing them, burst through them. But he knew this battle was far from over as he and Toothless took off into the large bank of fog and clouds hiding from the dragon. As the dragon came into full view for the first time Hiccup and Astrid realized it was much smaller than they had thought, though it was still massive. It could easily stand in the middle of town and have its tail and head reach past either side of the town.

"So any ideas," Astrid asked.

"We are going to use its own mass to our advantage, if we can get it to fly that is," Hiccup said, as he noticed some rather torn wings on its back.

"Wait we are actually going to attack it?" Astrid asked.

"No choice now, besides if we leave and it decides to follow us, do you think this will end well for Berk," Hiccup asked.

"I… okay fine," Astrid said, before jumping off Toothless's back.

"Astrid?" Hiccup looked at her as she gave him a weak smile.

"With me on it will slow Toothless and you down, or make it hard for you to turn if you are worried about losing me," Astrid said, "I will wait here for your return, just don't die."

"Okay," Hiccup said before taking off, but not without one glance at Astrid.

The battle began quickly, and it barely took a few seconds before Hiccup and Toothless's efforts where reward as the Dragon spread its wings and took after them. It was then the real battle began. The dragon was much faster than either Hiccup or Toothless had thought, and was easily able to keep up with them, even smashing through the stone columns that got in its way as if they were not even there.

Before they reached the location Astrid was waiting for them at Hiccup directed Toothless up into the clouds. The massive dragon followed them shooting out powerful blasts of fire, which could easily consume Hiccup and Toothless if they had not dodged out of the way. But to their slight relief they were soon able to hide in the cloud, but this relief was short lived as they began their new attack.

They rained down shot after shot on the massive dragon. The dragon got increasingly angry, as it could not track Hiccup and Toothless down. Finally it unleashed a wall of none stop fire from its mouth, spinning about as it did so till the air was filled with the flames it had produced. Hiccup noticed the flames just barely catch the Toothless artificial tail. Hiccup noticed this let Toothless know it was time to end this.

They dove pass the massive dragon, enticing it to follow them down into a steep dive. Hiccup worked hard trying to keep them straight as the tail slowly became less effective with each passing second. But then Hiccup hear the sound he was waiting for as the dragon began to draw in air for its next attack.

"Now," Hiccup yelled, as Toothless flipped about and fired a shot righting into the massive dragons mouth.

This ignited the gas that the dragon used as fuel, the dragon did not have time to reach as the broke through the clouds and it saw the ground closing in quickly. Hiccup directed Toothless up and away from the massive dragon as it impacted into the ground a moment or two later. The dragon began expanding rapidly, before it finally exploded in a huge ball of fire.

The fire blast was not something Hiccup had planned on, nor had he planned on the now destroyed tail. Without it they could not turn or move about either. Hiccup in a last ditch effect had Toothless spin and spread his wings. It worked barely as the force of the blast filled Toothless's wings and sent them flying away from the blast and towards the water.

But, without a tail fin, Hiccup and Toothless were thrown into a stone pillar unable to avoid it. Hiccup felt a sharp spear of pain lance through him as he impacted into the rocks, with Toothless slamming against him, before his world went dark.

When he finally awoke, he saw Astrid worried face in front of him. But it soon turned into a smile as she helped him sit up, he coughed up a little bit of water that had been in his lungs. It took Hiccup a few minutes before the coughing fit passed. Astrid rubbed his back, easing the pain he felt from the hard cough.

As it finally passed Hiccup gave Astrid a weak smile and asked, "So did I do it?"

"Yep, that dragon is dead, and you and Toothless are both alive. Though you're a little worse for the wear," Astrid said pointing to Hiccup's right arm which was in a sling.

"How did I miss that," Hiccup asked.

"Not sure, I was just able to guess where you were when the fireball blew a lot of the clouds away," Astrid said, as Toothless came over and began rubbing his head against Hiccups chest.

Hiccup groaned in pain causing Toothless to back up in worry that he had hurt Hiccup. Astrid put a hand on Toothless's shoulder and smiled reassuringly, causing Toothless to calm some.

"I guess my arm is not the only thing that was hurt," Hiccup said.

"Best I can guess a few ribs, and your arm is all that was damaged," Astrid said.

"It figures. Toothless's tail was partly destroyed in the fight, and when we moved to get out of the way of the final blast when the dragon crashed into ground, we used the shockwave to get clear as the tail had finally given out. Problem is we crashed into a stone pillar, with me taking most of the impact," Hiccup said, breathing lightly.

"I guess you're lucky to be alive then," Astrid said before giving him a kiss on the cheek much to Hiccups shook.

"What is that for?" Hiccup asked, his surprise rather clear.

"For defeating the greatest threat we as Vikings ever faced, and for not getting me killed, or dying yourself," Astrid said with a small smirk, "I would punch you to for worrying me to so much but well…"

"I am already in enough pain as it is," Hiccup said, guessing where she was going.

"Pretty much," Astrid said with a small smile.

"Well at least your short adventure with me has not left you with any major problems," Hiccup joked.

"Very funny, but what now?" Astrid asked.

"We have to get back to Berk and let my dad know what has happened. After which we have to see about what is left of the giant dragon, and see if it was truly the reason for the dragon raids," Hiccup said shifting about.

"Good idea, but I cannot fly Toothless back even if he had his tail, and I cannot swim all the way out to the stone pillar where the others are," Astrid said.

"No worries I can call the other dragons," Hiccup said before carefully took a deep breath.

He let out a rather piercing whistle that rang out across the Island. Astrid covered her ears, while Toothless flinched. It continued for nearly four seconds before Hiccup stopped and let out a grunt of pain, putting a his hand to his chest. Astrid was by his side in a second, making sure he had not done something stupid again.

"I never knew you could do that," Astrid said, once she was sure that Hiccup was okay.

"Yeah, it is not something I do often as well I could be heard across the entire Island of Berk if I wanted," Hiccup said with a weak chuckle.

"So I take it you trained the Dragon's to come to that call?" Astrid asked.

"Yep," Hiccup said, scanning the skies for the dragons.

It was not long before the group of dragons had landed, and was waiting for their next set of instructions. Astrid carefully walked over, following Hiccups instructions to the letter, she had already been ran over by the group once, and she was not wanting a repeat performance. Soon she was able to get on the Deadly Nadder named Stormfly, it was rather a joy to be honest for her to get this far.

"I think I could get used to this," Astrid said, before realizing Hiccup could not get on Stormfly at all.

"Yes, but just wait till you get some real flying down, and can see Berk and the world in its true glory," Hiccup said, with a smile as he reached out and rubbed Toothless's head.

"So, are you staying here," Astrid asked.

"Yes, I will stay here with the others till you get back with my father," Hiccup said, "Use Stormfly to lead them to this Island, as only a dragon can find this Island."

"Will you be safe till I get back," Astrid asked.

"I have a Monstrous Nightmare, a Gronckle, Hideous Zippleback, and a Night Fury to guard me, plus a little Terrible Terror as a pet," Hiccup said with a small smirk, his sarcasm rather clear.

"Good point, I will be back as soon as I can," Astrid before carefully directing Stormfly into the air and back to Berk.

It was close to the days end before Hiccup saw any sign of any humans. He had kept himself entrained best he could be walking and studying the dragons that began returning to the Dragon nest inside the mountain. And when he did see someone, it was to his great surprise his father and Astrid landing on the beach in one of the Berk ships. Gobber and several others got out of the boat and moved about making to secure the area quickly. Hiccup notice other ships coming out of the fog as his dad and Astrid hurried over to him.

"Son it is good to see you're alive," Stoick said with a smile, kneeling down by Hiccup.

"Yes, though not in the best of shape," Hiccup said, as his dad and Astrid helped him stand up.

"Yes, Astrid told most of Berk everything she saw," Stoick said, with a chuckle, "I must say you made me, and would have made your mother proud to call you our son."

"Thanks dad," Hiccup said, feeling the pain, he had caused from before fading.

"So, let's see about what remains of this dragon," Stoick said.

"It crashed down over there," Hiccup pointed to the area which was still covered with ash.

"Yeah I kind of guessed as much," Stoick said.

The group slowly made their way over to the remains of the massive dragon, or what little there actually seemed to be. As they reached the center where the dragon had actually crashed into the ground they found that actually nothing remained of the beast, not even a scale.

"This is weird," Hiccup said, carefully kneeling down to look for anything that might be left of the massive dragon.

"How so, it become a giant fire ball, why should anything even be left," Astrid asked.

"Dragon scales are strong enough to stand against flames, even if it came from another dragon of the same kind. So at the very least we should see scales, or claws, not just ash, which I am not sure this is ash," Hiccup said.

"What are you saying," Stoick asked.

"I am saying this dragon when it exploded, vanished completely," Hiccup said standing back up again.

"So that thing might still be alive," Astrid asked worriedly.

"I doubt that, but still this is not what you call normal," Hiccup said, looking about before his eyes caught a twinkle of light, "what is that?"

"What is what?" Astrid asked before Hiccup pointed to what he was seeing.

Astrid and Stoick quickly made their way over to where he was pointing and found three weird and unusual items. One was a small crystal or pearl sphere, which glowed with a soft light that slowly changed color. And to the side of it on either side was two rings made out of what looked to be pure gold. Astrid picked them up, and found not a mark on either of them, which was confusing as the gold should have more than crushed flat by the dragon landing in this area.

"What are these," Astrid asked, looking at Stoick.

"No clue, but maybe Gothi or Gobber might know," Stoick said.

Astrid nodded before putting them into a pouch she had with her. They searched some more but found nothing, and to the surprise of many of the Vikings none of the dragons attacked them. Actually the only reason they knew the dragons where even there was they would fly by them on their way back to the mountain.

Finally after a while, and not finding anything else the group loaded back up onto the ships. The set off from the Island, the dragons that Hiccup riding in the other ships, while Toothless stayed with Hiccup. Stoick could not help but grin with a center joy as he looked at Toothless, for the first time since he could remember they were about to be truly at peace. This was something he was looking forward to during this coming winter. It was a sentiment everyone was sharing as Berk finally came into view.

And by the end of the third month since Hiccup had left the Island to stop the war and had returned, not one dragon attack had happened. It was at this point Stoick declared the Dragon War officially over. This was met with great joy around the village in spite of the fact the war had been over for three months already.

To Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless this was like music to their ears as they sat about the house as snow began to fall. Little did they know their adventures with new dragons were far from over, and their problems with dragons where only just beginning.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Vikings of Berk were not well known for change with the times. If anything they stayed and followed the same teachings and lifestyles their parents did. And for good reason, why mess up something that was not wrong to begin with. But every once and a while, something came along that would change how they acted. And like most things when dealing with Hiccup, it was something new and mostly untested.

Hiccup's Spy-glass was one of these things that proved to be an almost invaluable item. Able to stop things at a great distance with much greater detail than one could normal do. Why other things fell flat on their face, like Hiccups launchers which could throw weapons at great distances than a normal Viking, but required more understand and patience than most Vikings had.

But the six dragons of Berk, were currently an undecided factor. For many Vikings the thought of being near a dragon without having to fight it was rather unheard up till this point. The idea that they could be trained to not only live with Vikings but also help them was boarding on crazy. But as many of the Vikings of Berk knew, talking, and proof were to different things.

Hiccup had proven dragons were not dangerous, at least not unless they felt threatened. And through the long three months of Devastating Winter, his and Astrid's families never once had to worry about starting a fire even if water got into the logs. Not to mention just one or two dragons could round up more food in an hour than a small team of Vikings could in a couple days.

So by the time the Thaw Winter rolled around, six months after Hiccups victory over the new named Red Death, some people in Berk were looking to get dragons of their own. But before Stoick would allow such a thing to happen he wanted to give things a test. As such after a few long, and hard meetings with the other Clan Heads, it was decided that the current teens in the village would be allowed to ride and train dragons. Depending on how well it went they would then decide if dragons would be allowed to all other families.

Hiccup, to his slight surprise, was placed as head of the Dragon Riders, with Astrid as his second in command. And he was handed the now unused Dragon Killing Arena as their place of operation till more room was needed. It would house the dragons overnight, and the main gates would not be closed unless needed. Of course there were those that believed this was the worse idea ever. Believing the dragons to be wild beasts, capable of nothing more than killing, but those were becoming fewer and farther in-between as time went on.

Hiccup choose Toothless as his dragon, and carefully picked out who would be riding which dragon. Astrid got Stormfly, Fishlegs got the Gronckle Meatlug. Hookfang, a Monstrous Nightmare, would be with Snotlout. And the Twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut got the Hideous Zippleback, which was a two headed dragon. Hiccup decided to keep the Terrible Terror and train it himself to send messages to and from places.

"So is that everything son," Stoick asked looking about the Arena.

"Yep I believe so, with the dragons able to feed and hunt for themselves. We only need stuff to clean out the stalls and clean the dragon, and well the saddles that you brought," Hiccup said going over the items that Stoick and Gobber had brought over.

"Now are you sure you can do this," Stoick asked.

"I know I can, besides if I didn't we will find out quickly enough," Hiccup said, with a nervous chuckle.

"True, just make your mom and me proud." Stoick said with a smile.

Hiccup nodded and shifted his new helmet back. It had been a given to him by Stoick not long after Hiccup had returned from his fight. It had been part of his mom's breast plate, and made into a helmet with Stoick's on Helmet being the other cup. It was a weird sort of way to keep her close. Hiccup only wore his once and a while, but seeing as today they were about to introduce the dragons to their rides for the first time he felt it was something he should be wearing in honor.

Astrid came running down the ramp into the arena, "Hi Hiccup, Stoick. they are coming now."

"Good, are they ready to meet their new best friend," Hiccup asked.

"About as ready as they will ever be," Astrid said.

"Now remember you two, you both are being watched as well as are the dragons. Try to not mess this up, so no pressure," Stoick said, with a small smile of reassurance.

"Normally I would ask what you have to worry about. But in this case I will say we will try our best to do our best," Hiccup said.

"Agreed sir," Astrid said.

"Good, well I will leave you to it, and remember if you need any help… well you know where to find me," Stoick said, before leaving with Gobber.

Hiccup watched as Gobber and Stoick left the Arena, and only a few moments later the four teens entered in. Tuffnut and Ruffnut were twins, each about Hiccups own age, but they were taller by a good foot. They lived for destruction and chaos, but had a good heart in them when it came down to it. Though there biggest downfall was lack of actually mental skills, but they could be have a brilliant moment every once and a while.

Then there was Fishlegs he was easily the size of most full grown Vikings. But were full grown Vikings had strength to spare, Fishleg's body was more fatty, not that anyone would ever tell him that as he could still throw a heavy cart around with ease. Fishleg's also boasted the most dragon knowledge of any Viking Hiccup knew, having nearly mesmerized the entire Dragon's Manual and Book of Dragons.

The final and Hiccup's and Astrid's least favorite person of the group was Snotlout. He was the very example of a classic Viking teen. He had the build most none Vikings would spend weeks trying to get, and was one of the most skilled weapon users Hiccup knew. But that is where the good became bad. He was arrogant, self-absorbed, rude, and always looking for a fight to 'Prove' he was better than others.

Astrid personally disliked Snotlout with a passion as Snotlout did not know the meaning of no. And Snotlout would constantly keep hitting on her, no matter how many times Astrid said no or denied his advances. Astrid had even gone so far as to almost break his arms to get the point across but still he continued. If it was not for the fact that Hiccup could calm her down Snotlout probably would not have lived through any of the last two winter season and into Winter Thaw.

"Welcome everyone I am sure you already know why you're here," Hiccup said

"Yeah we do, to become the best Vikings on Dragons ever," Snotlout said.

"Close. As requested by my dad and the other Clan heads; we are going to be seeing how just how the dragons will now live in our world. As such I was assigned with Astrid to teach you how to ride and train the dragons that used to live at the Arena. Understand," Hiccup asked.

"I do," Fishlegs said.

Ruff and Tuff both nodded as well, the idea was simple enough for them to get. Snotlout rolled his eyes looking at the dragon's which were behind Hiccup, eyeing them closely.

"Now because of this I have put a great deal of thought into which dragon each of you will be with, and learning to ride. Astrid here will be on Stormfly the Deadly Nadder. Fishlegs, you will be with Meatlug the Gronckle, Ruff and Tuff your dragon is the Hideous Zippleback who I will let you name as I cannot figure out if I should give it one or two names. And Snotlout that means you will be on…" Hiccup said, but was cut off.

"The Night Fury, it figures you give the best dragon to the best Viking," Snotlout said.

"No, I will be on Toothless," Hiccup said, firmly.

"Oh and why not me. I am obviously the best Viking, so I should be on the best dragon," Snotlout said.

"No. First of all, you are not the best Viking. Second, you have no clue how to even work with a dragon yet. And finally and most importantly because of Toothless's tail there are only two people capable of even flying with him. The First being me, and the second being Astrid. So you will be placed with Hookfang the Monstrous Nightmare," Hiccup said in a firm tone.

"And if we choose to not listen to you," Snotlout asked.

"Then you will not be riding dragons at all," Astrid said.

"And who placed you in charge," Snotlout asked.

"The Village Council, placed Hiccup as the leader since they are his dragons to begin with. Then I was placed Second in Command as I have learned a great deal from him. Now unless you want me to break your arm instead of just popping it out of joint, I would listen and behave yourself," Astrid said, glaring at Snotlout.

Snotlout glared back, but slowly back down after a few moments. Hiccup smiled, at this, he did not want to get into a fight with Snotlout if he could avoid it. One by one they Hiccup and Astrid introduced each of the riders to their dragon. It went surprising well, as Fishlegs, Ruff and Tuff began bonding with their dragon quickly. Snotlout was having a harder time bonding with his dragon.

For the rest of the week Hiccup had each of the new riders get to know their dragons and bond with them. Hiccup was not really ready to send them up in the saddles yet, though he knew it would be time soon. It was not so much he was worried that they would not be able to survive the ride, or would direct their dragons into a tree it was something else. The Berserker Tribe was due into port any day now and seeing people on dragons would be begging for trouble.

Now while Hiccup and Stoick were sure that their current chief, Oswald the Agreeable, would not see the dragons as a threat. They were not willing to risk it, after all you cannot be mad or scared of something that you don't know about to begin with. As it was, Stoick planned on telling Oswald later anyway when Stoick came up with a better plan on how to reveal, without it coming out like a threat.

"Are all the dragons safe," Stoick asked, as Gobber and Hiccup walked down the wooden pathways to the docks.

"Yep, all are hidden out in the cove where I found Toothless," Hiccup said, noticing there was a lot more ships than normal from the Berserker tribe here.

"Good," Stoick said.

"Do they normally travel with this many ships," Hiccup asked.

"No, not unless they are planning a raid," Gobber said.

"I sure hope not, because I am pretty sure that is the entire armada," Stoick said as one ship pulled towards the docks itself.

"This cannot be good," Hiccup said as the Berserker ship stopped and hooked up at the docks.

One of the Berserker stood forward and spoke, "Presenting the High Chief of the Berserker tribe! Cracker of Skulls! Slayer of Beasts! The great and fearsome, Dagger the Deranged!"

The Berserker moved aside revealing a teen same age as Hiccup, who threw a knife at a Hiccup. Hiccup ducked as the knife stuck into the post behind him. Hiccup could not help but repeat what he had said before.

"This cannot be good."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Dagger, where is your Father," Stoick asked in confusion as Dagger got off the ship.

"My father has been… Retired, he lost his taste for blood, I, on the other hand, am starving," Dagger said, seeming to sing the last word.

"Retired?" Gobber said looking slightly concerned.

"Yes," Dagger said chuckling lightly.

Stoick glared at Dagger, hard and moved to draw his sword. Stoick had dealt with idiots like this before, and to be honest he already knew he hated what Dagger done to take his place as Chief of the tribe. Gobber noticing put his hand on Stoick's on and stopped him from drawing his blade. Now was not the time for this.

"So let's just get to the treaty," Stoick said after a few moments trying to keep himself calm, war was not needed.

"Yes, let's. According to the treaty, my visit begins with a tour of Berk, the feast in the Great Hall, then finally to the Killing area were we sign the treaty it in dragon's blood," Dagger said grinning.

"Your father all that necessary," Stoick commented.

"Well as you can see, I am not my father. AM I!" Dagger said glaring as he began walking towards the ramps leading up into the village.

Stoick hung back a little bit as the other Berserkers got off and followed their leader up to Berk. He needed to talk with Hiccup and Gobber for just a few moments as things had changed greatly now.

"So, this is just great," Hiccup said.

"That better be sarcasm I hear," Stoick said.

"It is," Hiccup said.

"Good. Gobber you are coming with me, I am going to need someone else to help me keep a level head. He has already getting on my nerves," Stoick said, looking over at Gobber.

"Can do," Goober said.

"And Hiccup I need you to go out with Toothless and get a count on how many ships and men Dagger has brought," Stoick said, surprising his son.

"Why, I thought we were to sign a peace treaty with them, not start a war," Hiccup said confused.

"I don't plan on it, but with Dagger acting like this, that might just be impossible to avoid," Stoick said, for once truly glad that their village was hard to get to.

"Should I plan on being at Great Hall, in time for the feast," Hiccup asked.

"Yes, and make sure that the Arena is cleared of all dragon equipment. It would be best appear as if we have run out of dragons to kill," Stoick said.

"Okay I will do what I can," Hiccup said.

"Good, now remember to slip away once we are in the Village," Stoick said as the moved to follow Daggers group.

Hiccup nodded as the group moved forward and was soon able to slip away. He quickly made his way towards the cove hoping that nothing would happen while he was away. It was not that he was worried about his father or Gobber, they could handle themselves against Dagger and the few men he had with him. It was the other ships that worried him. Not far the cove he spotted Astrid, who was watching the dragons till the day was over.

"Hiccup what are you doing here," Astrid asked, once Hiccup was close enough to talk.

"Bad news, Dagger is the new Chief of the Berserker tribe," Hiccup said.

"Your right that is not good, what does he want," Astrid asked.

"Well nothing currently, but he already has my father on edge. So I was asked to get on Toothless and get a count on just how many men, and ships there are," Hiccup said.

"Wait, are we going to war?" Astrid asked confused, as they began making their way down into the cove.

"In a word, maybe. It depends as Dagger is a little deranged," Hiccup said.

"Great, I am gone for one day and you're already in trouble again," Astrid said.

"If I remember correctly, dear lady it is you, not I, who needs help," Hiccups said, which earned him a punch in the arm.

"Right, and that is why you work with Toothless so much," Astrid said.

"Detail," Hiccup said, rubbing his arm as they reached base of the cove.

"A very important one," Astrid said as the dragons came from their different locations in the cove to greet them.

Hiccup smiled, looking each of them over before moving over to Toothless and getting into the saddle. Astrid debated for a few moments before climbing into the saddle as well.

"What are you doing," Hiccup asked.

"Providing you with some support, in short, you and Toothless doing the flying; I will do the counting," Astrid said, pulling a spy glass out of Toothless's riding bag.

"You are needed here to keep the other dragons here still. We cannot allow them out and seen by other tribes yet," Hiccup countered.

"Yet you are going on a Night Fury during the middle of the day," Astrid pointed out.

"Well he is my dragon, and I am his rider," Hiccup pointed out, getting a small growl of agreement out of Toothless.

"True. But he is also a big black dragon in an otherwise blue sky. So I am going with you, unless you want to pick a dragon that is less likely to be shot out for just being seen," Astrid said with a small smirk.

"And which one do you think would be best," Hiccup asked, noticing Astrid was getting a lot better with her logic.

"Personally Stormfly is the best, her blue scales would offer better chances of not being seen. Besides that means I am the coming with you either way," Astrid pointed out, as Hiccup groaned.

"You're not letting me do this without you are you?" Hiccup asked.

"Nope," Astrid said.

"Fine, get Stormfly ready to go," Hiccup said getting off Toothless.

"Okay," Astrid said before tossing Hiccup his spy glace.

Toothless nudged Hiccup confused, causing Hiccup to look at him, "Sorry boy, but I am not going to be able to take you this time. I need to travel with Astrid and Stormfly."

Toothless let out a growl of annoyance at this, and looked away, as Hiccup spoke again, "Here I will make it up to you. Once this is all done, and we don't have to deal with the other tribe we can go anywhere you want. Deal?"

Hiccup was not quite sure Toothless understood everything he said, but the dragon seemed to agree to what Hiccup suggested after a few moments thought. Hiccup smiled and rubbed Toothless's head lightly causing the dragon to settle down. Once this was done Hiccup hurried over to Astrid and soon they were in the air.

They did not right away head towards the coast though. Rather they kept climbing in height wanting a better view of the coast, and the fleet that Dagger had brought with him. Soon they were among the clouds as Astrid directed Stormfly to head towards the coast. Hiccup began counting best he could, and it soon became apparent that the entire Berserker fleet was there.

Nearly a sixty ships were moored in Berks port, not including Berk's own fleet. Hiccup carefully began counting out and checking which ships were Berserker and which belonged to Berk. Once this was done he pulled out his spy glass and began carefully counting out the members of crew on each ship. This was not the best way to go about it, but he only needed to get an average for a few of the ships.

Once he was sure on the amount he had Astrid head back towards the cove, while he began tallying up numbers. When they had touched down Hiccup grabbed a stick and began going over the numbers again, very sure he had miss calculated. But after a few moments his fears were confirmed.

"Nine Hundred," Hiccup said, staring at the number.

"Nine Hundred, are you sure?" Astrid asked in surprise.

"Yes, the ships seems to be carrying about fifteen berserkers each, and at sixty ships to that fleet that is nine hundred Berserkers sitting on our door step," Hiccup said.

"Well, how big is the Berk Fleet and Army?" Astrid asked.

"About four hundred men and women currently, as most of our village is out getting food. Otherwise it would be equal numbers," Hiccup said after a few moments of thought.

"So we are outnumbered two to one, that is not as bad as it could have been," Astrid said with a knowing smirk.

"If it came to a fight yes, but we have the advantage right now. A siege against Berk is impossible, if you wish to win against our tribe, you need to take us in a week or not at all. The area around the island cannot maintain a large military for long, and we can live off the Berk's natural resources, plus we now have dragons," Hiccup said.

"Well in that case we could just let Dagger start the war he wants, then kill him," Astrid said.

"As nice as that sounds, I think it would be best just tell me father what we have found out," Hiccup said.

"And let me guess that means I am stuck here keeping an eyes on the dragons," Astrid said, giving Hiccup a small glare.

"Yes, for now at least," Hiccup said, looking around at the dragons and realized something seemed to be missing, "Astrid, do you see Meatlug?"

"What do you mean he is right… over there," Astrid said noticing that Meatlug was indeed missing.

Astrid and Hiccup began running about the cove looking for Meatlug. But within moments they knew that Meatlug had left. Hiccup did a quick check and made sure all the other dragons were still there before heading back to the entrance. His dad needed to be warned, being outnumbered was one thing, a surprise attack because someone saw something they shouldn't, was something else entirely.

Hiccup's only hope, as he moved along through the forest, was that Fishlegs had not taken Meatlug. If Meatlug had just left by himself, then the risk was more manageable, outside the fact that meant Meatlug could still be killed if he got too close to the Village. Hiccup also knew that any chance of looking or finding Meatlug right now would be near impossible, well outside his whistle, but more than a few people would hear that.

Hiccup stopped outside the Village and saw Dagger, a few of his men, his own Father, and Gobber headed up to the Great Hall. He did not have a lot of time if he wanted to let his dad know what was going on. Sighing Hiccup moved quickly towards the group and was able to get in behind them into the Great Hall.

Once inside Hiccup was able to get his day off to one side and tell him just what was going on currently. Stoick, was less than happy to hear this, but he knew he had to play this cool, and just get the treaty signed. Then send Dagger on his way.

The feast thankfully went as planned. Dagger and his men enjoyed the food that had been prepared, and laughed and joked with the few people Stoick had asked to join them. After a toast or two, which Dagger found rather annoying, Gobber brought the subject back around to the treaty.

"So you both ready to sign the treaty," Gobber asked.

"Yes, I think it would be a good idea," Stoick said.

"Yes, lets. Bring out the dragon's blood," Dagger said.

"Come now, your father and I have not signed a treat in dragon's blood for years," Stoick said.

"Why is that a problem," Dagger asked.

"We currently have no dragons on Berk, unless it is a raid and those stopped a while ago. So we have not dragon's blood to use as ink," Stoick explained.

"Come now you don't expect me to believe that do you? We both know Berk is the center of all dragon activity," Dagger said.

"It was, till recently, but we cannot use what we don't have," Stoick said.

"Well, if that is the way things are going to be, then I will ask something in compensation for this small insult," Dagger said, grinning dangerously.

"And what might that be?" Stoick asked in a surprisingly level tone.

"A girl of my choice to be my wife. You see most girls at home are too weak for me, but I know the girls here are tough and worthy of being the wife of the berserker chief," Dagger said, in a rather bored tone of voice.

"I see, the answer is no," Stoick said.

"And why not, it is a simple price to pay, or would you rather start a war with my tribe," Dagger asked.

"I am not looking for war, but I am not about to give someone over to you, just because we lack something," Stoick said slowly standing up.

The room was growing increasingly tense. Both sides were moving away from each other, and then behind their own leader. It was at this point that Dagger's men realized they were actually outnumbered three to one in this place. And while they knew Dagger was very skilled he was no match for Stoick, nor were they a match for the people of Berk.

"You seem to think you can win if we started a war," Dagger said, "But you have forgotten about my armada, fill with fifty thousand brave berserkers. You harm me and they will wipe Berk from the map!"

"That I where you are wrong Dagger, I have seen your fleet, you barely boast a thousand men. Plus what can your army do right now to save you. Now I will give you two choices if you wish to leave here alive, sign the treaty and leave Berk in peace. Or, you can leave, and our tribe is now enemies with your own," Stoick said, taking the paper from Gobber and putting down on the table between him and Dagger.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Hiccup could have not been happier as he saw the last Berserker ship sail away over the horizon. The tension in Berk had finally eased up with Dagger decided it was best to leave. While Dagger had not signed the treaty he had not declared war either. Still, should there be any fighting between the two groups, it would most likely lead to war at this point.

"We are lucky you know," Hiccup said looking at his father.

"Oh, and why is that son?" Stoick asked.

"That we had the dragons, it let you call Dagger's bluff." Hiccup said.

"Yeah, you are right it is useful we had them," Stoick said, giving Hiccup a small smile before it slowly turned to a frown.

"Something wrong?" Hiccup asked.

"When Dagger finds out we are riding dragons, war will start," Stoick said.

"I see," Hiccup said, his own smiling turning to a frown.

"Oh well. I guess this peace between our tribes was not meant to last. Pity about Oswald, he was a great man, and I think he would be truly sadden to see where his son is going," Stoick said.

"I agree, I am going to get back to Astrid and let her know we can bring back the dragons to the arena," Hiccup said.

"Okay, and Hiccup I want everyone up in the air by the end of the week. I want you and your riders to start regular patrols around the island," Stoick said.

"Can do, I will have everyone in the air tomorrow and routes for Patrols by the end of tomorrow," Hiccup said before running off.

Gobber chuckled as he walked up, and noticed Hiccup racing off towards the woods, "He seems rather happy to be taking up patrols around the island."

"It will keep him with his new friend. And hopefully the twins and Snotlout out of trouble," Stoick said.

"Aye that is true, it is hard to believe that we have not seen one dragon over head to attack for almost a half year now," Gobber said.

"That it is, that it is," Stoick said, before turning and heading down towards the port, he had some fixing to direct to get ready for Trader Johann return to Berk.

Gobber followed along behind him, and said, "By the way, Gothi finally got done looking at those items. I had been meaning to tell you, but well we had Berserkers to deal with."

"That is quite alright, some bits of treasure hardly draw the same attention as Berserker hordes," Stoick said chucking, "So what did she find out?"

"Well that is the thing, she knows nothing about them. Even the old legends and tales I know never mention two rings and a small glowing ball of crystal or pearl. I thought it might be a Stone of Good Fortune, but after staring at it for an hour I realized it was the wrong shape and color," Gobber said, pulling out a small bag and handing it to Stoick.

"I see," Stoick said checking the contents of the bag, which held the two rings and pearl inside it.

"For what it is worth, I would just let Hiccup, and Astrid keep the items. They would make for a good wedding bonds if they decided to stop dancing around the subject and just admitted they like each other," Gobber said.

Stoick chuckled as he nodded in agreement, "Can face down the biggest dragon we have ever seen, but the moment it comes to admitting their feelings they are as chicken as well chickens."

"That is true, but well we shall see." Gobber said chuckling.

Stoick smiled lightly to himself. Hiccup and Astrid, reminded Stoick of himself and his wife Valka back when they were first trying to get together. Of course the position had been switched, with Valka being more of the mess-up, and Stoick the brave and skilled warrior. But as they went along they helped each other out in more ways than one. Astrid was not really able to help Hiccup just yet, but Toothless was doing a lot that currently so it did not matter as much.

Stoick then sighed as there was one thing he had wished Hiccup had been right about, Valka being alive. While the idea that she was still alive was nice, it was really just a foolish dream. She had been gone for nearly fifteen years, and not once had they ever seen any sign of her. No boat, messages, letters, or anything. And someone alive wanting to be back with their loved ones rarely just give up on trying to return.

Stoick was not about counter Hiccup's argument that Valka might still be alive though. A belief that someone is actually alive, no matter how small that belief may be is still a great feeling. And the fact that Stoick, had seen that Hiccup's and Valka's words were true about the dragons being good creatures. Gave Stoick reason to believe that Hiccup's way might just be the right one.

Of course Stoick would keep a close eye on Hiccup, he had seen just what kind of power a man could unleashed with Dragons as his fighters. Drago Bludvist, was one such person who appeared then disappeared a while back. He was able to command dragons, and had them attack the leaders of the tribes. Stoick was the only one who had survived this attack, and it had made him more than a little worried about people controlling dragons.

Stoick sighed and looked out over the over the sea and suppressed as shiver. In his life he had dealt with more than his fair share of dangerous people that could destroy villages if they wished. Drago was just one of these. But as Stoick glanced up and spotted Toothless shot overhead, he could not help but realize sometimes what seems bad, only looked that way from one angle.

"Well that was fast, I did not expect you to reach the cove so quickly," Stoick commented, as Toothless and Hiccup landed.

"Yes I know, Astrid had moved the dragon's to the forests edge as she feared an attack and wanted to be ready in case it came to that," Hiccup said.

"Fair enough. Also I am going to need your help, as well as Astrid's in clearing any of the remaining ice from our Harbor. Berserker boats bumping ice is one thing, Johann's ship and business is another thing entirely," Stoick said.

"Of course, I will get Astrid and be out into the harbor clearing ice soon. It might take me a few minutes thought as Astrid went off in search of Fishlegs, as Meatlug has disappeared," Hiccup said.

Stoick frowned a little bit at this, "You never told me that."

"I did not have time to, or I would have," Hiccup explained.

Stoick nodded, "Okay, I will admit we got lucky on all fronts. Just make sure it was not Fishlegs or one of the others taking a joyride and risking all our necks."

"Will do," Hiccup said.

"Oh and before you go, take this," Stoick said tossing the sack he had gotten from Gobber to Hiccup.

Hiccup caught it, "What is this?"

"The items we found on Dragon Island," Stoick said.

"I see, so find anything out about them?" Hiccup asked, opening the bag.

"Unfortunately no. Gothi has no clue, and Gobber cannot currently remember any legends about the items either. So we are letting you and Astrid keep them, who knows they might end up helpful," Stoick said.

"Not sure, how they can be that helpful. But thank you," Hiccup said, before nudging Toothless and was once again airborne.

"Oh he will get what I mean soon enough," Stoick chucked.

Hiccup on the other hand, was not worried about how the rings might be helpful as he moving up higher over Berk. Toothless once high enough to make a fall recoverable slowed and hovered as Hiccup took a deep breath and let out a piercing whistle. Toothless groaned as the sound was enough to cause any dragon to lose focus at twenty feet, let alone right next to it. Hiccup thankfully stopped soon though, allowing them to remain in the air.

Four roars met this whistle and soon dragons were flying up towards Hiccup. Astrid showed up on Stormfly, then the other three showed up, with Meatlug bring up the rear. But no Fishlegs on him.

"It would seem Meatlug just escaped is all," Astrid said, circling about till she could hover close enough to talk.

"I am glad," Hiccup said, smiling before directing the dragons towards the arena, "I was really hoping not to punish Fishlegs for disobeying orders from Stoick and myself."

"So what is next," Astrid asked.

"We get everyone on their dragons, then heavy training. My dad has asked us to start patrolling the island, incase an attack happens," Hiccup said.

"So he could not complete the treaty?" Astrid said more than asked.

"Yes unfortunately," Hiccup said before adding, "All this considered, I am not really sure if that is a bad thing."

"Rather not have a lose catapult as our allies," Astrid commented.

"Yeah, also Gothi got done looking at the items we got from Dragon Island, unfortunately she has no clue what they are, or what they are for," Hiccup said.

"Well, I guess they are not really anything of use then," Astrid commented.

"Well, maybe not, but I think I will wear one of the rings as a sign of what happened," Hiccup said.

"I guess I could wear the other one, as long as we make sure they are mistake for wedding bonds," Astrid said.

"I am not sure, I think you would like being married to me, if only to get Snotlout off your back," Hiccup said with a small laugh.

They landed at this point, and Hiccup was barely able to dodge Astrid's flying tackle. He rolled off Toothless's back and got into a defensive position as he sized up Astrid and began predicting her next attack. This was not too uncommon for them, Hiccup would make a small insult, which Astrid would then use as an excuse to fight him. Their fights which had been at first very one sided, Astrid winning all of them, where now become a lot more evenly matched.

Hiccup much like Astrid was a very fast learner in combat, and even faster with his hands than she was. But she still had two major advantages over him. Strength, and experience. Both of these made it hard for Hiccup to beat Astrid, unless he caught her by surprise, or outpaced her.

Toothless for this matter, loved watching the two of them fight. It was not so much Toothless thought that they would kill each other, but rather it reminded Toothless of young dragons play fighting. Toothless was also the one that would end the fight, with a rather sharp smack from the tail on both of them before it got out of hand. In this case the fight lasted for six minutes before Astrid finally had Hiccup pinned, and was able to claim victory.

Slipping on one of the two rings for size she checked it while Hiccup regained his breath, "You getting a lot better Hiccup."

"Thank you, but… my shoulders would like to disagree with you," Hiccup said, working his left shoulder back into place.

"I popped it out again?" Astrid said a little surprised.

"No, but close," Hiccup said shrugging a little bit, as he took the other ring.

"I see," Astrid said.

"It is okay, I dealt with worse. Besides I am getting better, so what is a few sore joints every now and again," Hiccup said, getting a smile from Astrid.

"Glad and agreed," Astrid said, before nodding as the ring seemed to fit perfectly.

"So any idea what these might be for?" Hiccup asked, spinning the ring between his fingers slowly.

"Well outside the basic no clue, so form of magic is all I can guess. If they have any power that is," Astrid said.

"Well they survived a massive dragon running into them, so maybe they will provide us some sort of protection from dragons attack," Hiccup suggested.

"Possibly, you want to stand in front of Toothless to test that or me," Astrid asked.

"Considering I lost this last fight, I would like you," Hiccup said.

"Sure," Astrid said chuckling as she picked up a shield from the arena wall and moved in front of Toothless before saying, "Just so we are both sore at the end of the day."

"Hay I am not the one that moved in front of Toothless, you are," Hiccup said before letting Toothless know it was time to unleash an attack the shield.

The blast hit the shield, and sent Astrid flying back a good couple of feet. She shook her head, and checked the distance she had traveled as well as the damage to the shield. The results were bad, as the damage and distance was about the same as when Toothless would use any other low level blast.

"Well, I guess it does not provide me protection from dragon," Astrid said, standing up as she tossed away the shield, it was useless now for protection.

"Well, I guess that is not it. I will see if I can figure something out later," Hiccup said as the others began showing up, it was time for them to all become riders.


End file.
